Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Bridges Ballet and Broadway

Sharon Hoyer, Newcity

June 3, 2025

Few ballet artists reach the pop status of household name. But if such a celebrity exists in our century, it would be Christopher Wheeldon, the artistic associate at Britain’s Royal Ballet and one of the most sought-after choreographers in ballet and musical theater worlds alike. Wheeldon—along with a well-credentialed creative team—created the Chicago-centric adaptation of “The Nutcracker” for the Joffrey Ballet, resetting the holiday staple at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition. Wheeldon’s “Nutcracker” is a massive production in which neoclassical ballet floats through a dazzling dreamscape of shifting sets, projected animation and puppetry. The annual performance, which replaced founder Robert Joffrey’s rendition in 2016, showcases Wheeldon’s embrace of classical and pop live entertainment, and his ability to synthesize these aesthetics without a hiccup. Ashley Wheater, artistic director of the Joffrey, says that Wheeldon is “that bridge that can do classical ballet really well and also do Broadway really well. I think he is the Jerome Robbins of today.”

Wheater refers to the former artistic director of the New York City Ballet and, more famously, the choreographer of “West Side Story”—along with about a dozen other musicals. Like Robbins, even if you don’t know Wheeldon’s name, you might have seen his work. If not the Joffrey “Nutcracker,” then perhaps “MJ the Musical.” Chicagoans will have the opportunity to see another epic-scale Wheeldon work June 5-22, when the Joffrey presents his 2011 “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” the first U.S. company to do so, at the Lyric Opera House.

Wheater says that due to the amount of offstage and fly space the set demands, “Alice” wouldn’t be possible in any other theater in Chicago.“I’ve always wanted to stage it,” Wheater says from a conference room in the Joffrey tower, with a few seven-foot, red-painted rosebushes stashed outside the door. “I said to Chris, it’s not that I doubt anyone in the company, it’s just massive.”

Wheeldon worked with Tony-winning designer Bob Crowley and composer Joby Talbot (all frequent collaborators) from the ground up, conceiving the music, choreography and design elements in tandem. “What’s so beautiful about the team that works with Chris, it’s people at the top of their game working together, from the beginning. The production is cohesive,” says Jillian Vanstone, who originated the title role for the National Ballet of Canada and is setting “Alice” on the Joffrey dancers.

Vanstone says the show is extremely demanding, especially on the Alice, who doesn’t leave the stage for the first two acts. “The stamina is extraordinary,” she says. “You can never let the energy drop. In my personal career I don’t think there was anything like it.”

The maximalism of the production puts high demands on the rest of the cast as well. Company members play multiple roles throughout—common for the Joffrey—but quick changes are just one element in a chain reaction of moving set pieces, puppetry and music cues where the chemistry must be precise. Vanstone says that there’s so much happening onstage at once it can “look like a wash” if the dancers don’t get it just right.

I see what she means in a rehearsal for the mad tea party. A quartet of dancers feel like a dozen, capturing the dizzy spirit of the scene in constantly shifting pairings and trios. No one stops moving. Levels change constantly. The March Hare and tap-dancing Mad Hatter strut together while Alice wrings out the drowsy Dormouse’s tail. Alice bounces on a giant pastry while the other three do something I didn’t catch. Pulling focus is a science here and the bit of Vanstone’s direction I hear from the viewing gallery above is about energy and following through with the movements.

Wheeldon’s “Alice” takes a few turns down the rabbit hole from Lewis Carroll’s story: the main character is a teenager, allowing for a forbidden love storyline with the garden boy-slash-Knave of Hearts. A prologue introduces the main characters in a pre-fantasy, “real world” Victorian garden party—a la “The Wizard of Oz”—their chief features exaggerated when they rematerialize in Wonderland as the White Rabbit, Queen of Hearts, Knave of Hearts, etcetera.

The Joffrey will perform “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” fourteen times over three weekends—a significant extension of the company’s typical two-week runs. Wheater says the sell-out success of contemporary story ballets the Joffrey has staged over the last several years—Alexander Ekman’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” John Neumeier’s “The Little Mermaid,” and the lines-around-the-block, runaway hit “Frankenstein” by Liam Scarlett—gave the company confidence to add a week of performances. “Surely this is the production where we bite the bullet,” Wheater says. “The Lyric gave us the dates, the board gave approval. And it’s selling.”

Wheater and Vanstone say “Alice” is a show for all ages, family-friendly and heartwarming. “It makes you feel good about storytelling,” Wheater says. “And makes you feel good about humanity.”